Research Article Antimicrobial Activity of Lippia Species from the Brazilian Semiarid Region Traditionally Used as Antiseptic and Anti-Infective Agents

Copyright © 2013 Cristiana da Purificação Pinto et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Lippia origanoides Kunth, Lippia alnifolia Schauer, and Lippia thymoides Martius and Schauer are shrubs used in the traditional Brazilian medicine as antiseptics, as well as in the treatment of infectious diseases. This study was designed to investigate the antibacterial and antifungal activities of the methanolic extracts of these species, as new potential sources of antimicrobial drugs. The antimicrobial activity of methanolic extracts was investigated against resistant yeasts and bacteria by agar disk diffusion. Then, the MIC determination of the most active species and its fractions in hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, and water was performed. By the agar diffusion assay, all species were active against at least two microorganisms, giving evidence to suppor